3DBuzz Level Design Contest Top 5 - Screenshots, Download
- Thread starter hal
- Start date
-
Two Factor Authentication is now available on BeyondUnreal Forums. To configure it, visit your Profile and look for the "Two Step Verification" option on the left side. We can send codes via email (may be slower) or you can set up any TOTP Authenticator app on your phone (Authy, Google Authenticator, etc) to deliver codes. It is highly recommended that you configure this to keep your account safe.
... regarding "thinking outside the box"....
DM design for Unreal and Quake series or other fast-paced shooters is in one category, while DM design for Half-Life2, Fear or CounterStrike is another. The latter being tactical shooters, so the player speed, movements, & weapons are much different. As players become more skilled at playing DM, the gameplay & flow in the map becomes ever more important.
If you think outside the box too much - ie: veer too far from tried and true gameplay concepts - you risk creating levels that won't have lasting value - well, except maybe for you and your bot friends.
It's important in fast-paced DM design to have a good flow to your map and properly lay down the pickups & powerups so that the players will keep moving. Adequate lighting and proper visibility to see your opponents, no snags to catch yourself on, etc are key.
There's some other do's and don'ts, and other helpful tips on the web.... plenty of good DM maps to study too.
g/l!
DM design for Unreal and Quake series or other fast-paced shooters is in one category, while DM design for Half-Life2, Fear or CounterStrike is another. The latter being tactical shooters, so the player speed, movements, & weapons are much different. As players become more skilled at playing DM, the gameplay & flow in the map becomes ever more important.
If you think outside the box too much - ie: veer too far from tried and true gameplay concepts - you risk creating levels that won't have lasting value - well, except maybe for you and your bot friends
.It's important in fast-paced DM design to have a good flow to your map and properly lay down the pickups & powerups so that the players will keep moving. Adequate lighting and proper visibility to see your opponents, no snags to catch yourself on, etc are key.
There's some other do's and don'ts, and other helpful tips on the web.... plenty of good DM maps to study too.
g/l!
If I were looking for a tactical map (ala counterstrike, or frag ops) it would be a very nice map. However, "tactical" and "UT" aren't really two things you normally see in a sentence together.Heh, I have to say that Shiota is actually probably my favorite map out of the bunch. From my own mapping experiences, I suspect that rather than try to adapt to a new gameplay style (as fun as it may be) player's inherent reluctance to learn and adapt often prevents them from enjoying maps that "break away" from the norm. Sadly, it seems that while players cry out for "something new" you can only give them new concepts in very small pre-cut bite-sized doses to avoid taking them out of their "comfort zone"
After trying it out, I'm loving the new unique gameplay mechanics Shiota introduces. Large distances mean strategy and planning are now involved (*gasp* blasphemy!
I commend the author for "thinking outside the box" and hope more people do the same. I'm sure once enough people give it a few tries with an open mind, it will become quite popular.
I think that's the point people are making. If the goal was to make a tactical map, then I would say it was pretty successful.
Well, the issue becomes that while the central gameplay dogma is great and all in the short term, in the long term, players eventually become "bored with the game" and look for new things to rekindle their interest (i.e. perhaps Counter-Strike). If you look at the 2k4 servers that persist today, most of them have maps with a massive variety in gameplay styles. From small cramped spamboxes to massive epic city-scapes and river valleys. Every map is almost like you're playing a totally different game and players stay constantly entertained by the new challenges and gameplay styles of them.
Now, UT3 is still young, so most players aren't bored of it's fast-paced spammy-style action yet, but believe me, it won't last forever! (lol, I feel like an old man waving my walking-stick at young whipper-snappers and giving them foreboding warnings about the future).
Now, UT3 is still young, so most players aren't bored of it's fast-paced spammy-style action yet, but believe me, it won't last forever! (lol, I feel like an old man waving my walking-stick at young whipper-snappers and giving them foreboding warnings about the future
).It's really quite aggravating to hear that the gameplay sucks. It seems that that's all ppl refer to my map (Shiota) as...
Well I know it doesn't suck, I played the map and I enjoyed it, it's just not your standard UT deathmatch, cramped as hell. To me UT3 DM maps are constricting, in some of the stock maps there are ledge that when you look at them you think, "oh i can jump to that", but no you can't you have to run around the backside to a ramp or jump onto a small post. When I was making the map I wanted the player to be able to feel that if they could go there they could.
I like the gameplay of CTF more than DM, and would have rather have done CTF but the contest was for DM, and I wanted to enter the contest. I guess my lack of knowlegde of what makes a good DM map shows in this level.
I'm sorry I made a map that didn't have the gameplay you expected.
It is a game - not art.
I love the way the map looks, and while it doesnt have traditional flow it looks as if it would be a 'fun' map to freestyle on. I said it was unplayable because this map gives me the lowest framerates of any map I have (8 to 9 fps). I love the way it looks, but the looks absolutely kill the framerate/playability.
Great work on the looks of the map. But I cant play it, sorry if that aggravates you. It isnt meant to.
You should try getting chronos's map, i got 1-6 fps on it and i get 30-40 fps on my map. Not that his map is bad, i just wasn't able to play it or even look at it beyond screenshots. It's a problem with the contest because not everyone has the minimum recommended PC to test it with and since it was a contest not everyone was able to get their maps tested on enough computers. I guess I should have taken the time to find someone with a lowerend PC, rather then just using mine which basically matches the recommended specs on the UT3 box, except 2gb of RAM .
JimBodkins, mind if i ask what PC specs you have?
. It's a problem with the contest because not everyone has the minimum recommended PC to test it with and since it was a contest not everyone was able to get their maps tested on enough computers. I guess I should have taken the time to find someone with a lowerend PC, rather then just using mine which basically matches the recommended specs on the UT3 box, except 2gb of RAM .JimBodkins, mind if i ask what PC specs you have?
You should try getting chronos's map, i got 1-6 fps on it and i get 30-40 fps on my map. Not that his map is bad, i just wasn't able to play it or even look at it beyond screenshots
JimBodkins, mind if i ask what PC specs you have?
AMD 64 3300+
2 gigs
Nvidia FX 5900XT
I need an upgrade, but I use this system for development (I am a programmer). On maps like Cath, I get in the range of 50 FPS. On most maps that I play it ranges from the 20's to 60's.
It may be the deco layer. It could also be the shear amount of data. My video is agp and doesnt transfer at pci-x rates.
It is a pretty map. UT3 brings four things to the game -
1) returns game play to pre-UT2k3 styles (my opinion)
2) embraces shader 3 - my video doesnt have that (so I configure it out)
3) massive poly counts (which I personally dont care about - I dont need poly-rubble in the streets to the extent that we see it. again my opinion).
4) stresses video port bandwidth.
Your map hits point 3 for sure (deco layer, unless they are doing that as a stencil of sorts) - which could (probably) lead to point 4.
I totally agreeWell, the issue becomes that while the central gameplay dogma is great and all in the short term, in the long term, players eventually become "bored with the game" and look for new things to rekindle their interest (i.e. perhaps Counter-Strike). If you look at the 2k4 servers that persist today, most of them have maps with a massive variety in gameplay styles. From small cramped spamboxes to massive epic city-scapes and river valleys. Every map is almost like you're playing a totally different game and players stay constantly entertained by the new challenges and gameplay styles of them.
Now, UT3 is still young, so most players aren't bored of it's fast-paced spammy-style action yet, but believe me, it won't last forever! (lol, I feel like an old man waving my walking-stick at young whipper-snappers and giving them foreboding warnings about the future